Violent sex offender turns himself in to face multiple felony charges

Thursday

Feb 25, 2010 at 12:01 AMSep 9, 2014 at 5:05 PM

PETERSBURG - A violent sex offender who was being sought by Virginia State Police on multiple felony charges after fleeing a traffic stop has turned himself in.Police said Delmah Rapheal Poindexter, 41, of the 1100 block of Halifax Street, turned himsel

PETERSBURG - A violent sex offender who was being sought by Virginia State Police on multiple felony charges after fleeing a traffic stop has turned himself in.

Police said Delmah Rapheal Poindexter, 41, of the 1100 block of Halifax Street, turned himself in at the Petersburg Bureau of Police on Wednesday afternoon. He was taken into custody by special agents of the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation and a trooper from the Sex Offender Unit of the State Police.

Poindexter was being sought on charges of felony hit-and-run, felony eluding police, felony driving while a habitual offender and failing to re-register as a violent sex offender.

According to police, Trooper J.I. Dixon tried to stop Poindexter on Feb. 12 for a traffic violation on Jefferson Davis Highway in south Richmond. Police said Poindexter, who was driving a white 1997 Lincoln Town Car, refused to stop.

While attempting to escape, police said, Poindexter began driving north in the southbound lanes of Jefferson Davis and hit Dixon's car. The trooper, who was not injured, ended the pursuit after losing sight of Poindexter's car, which was later found abandoned in Richmond.

Poindexter was required to re-register as a violent sex offender by Feb. 17 and failed to do so by the deadline. The registration stems from a conviction in Buckingham County last year.

According to court records, Poindexter was convicted in January 2009 on a charge of aggravated sexual battery after he was arrested in November 2006 for an offense that occurred in January 2005. He received a sentence of 10 years' imprisonment, with nine and a half years suspended.

Poindexter originally faced numerous other serious charges from the same incident, including use of a firearm in a felony, abduction and kidnapping, assault and battery, and forcible sodomy, but those charges were later dropped.

In 2003, he was charged in Chesterfield County with driving while intoxicated, driving after being declared a habitual offender and felony eluding police. The outcome of those charges could not be determined Wednesday.

- Michael Buettner may be reached at 722-5155 or mbuettner@progress-index.com.

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